Saturday, December 3, 2016

A bailment is a legal
relationship related to physical possession of property. It arises where one
party (the bailee) is given / takes
custody of goods belonging to another (the bailor). The bailee/bailor
relationship creates independent rights and obligations to both the parties. In
bailment, the property of one person
temporarily goes into the possession of another. The ownership of the property
remains with the giver, while only the possession goes to another. Several
situations in day to day life such as giving a vehicle for repair, or parking a
scooter in a parking lot, giving a cloth to a tailor for stitching, are
examples of bailment. Section 148 of Indian Contract Act 1872, defines bailment
– the primary duty of the bailor is of course, safe upkeep and return on agreed
terms.

Marine Insurance is all about insuring cargo from one
place to another – the subject matter can be commodity and at times lives
also. In India, as per the Customs
rules, a pet cannot be carried or imported into the country in a plane’s cabin
unless it is accompanying a disabled passenger or is being flown due to
transfer of residence.Due clearances from the vets and a licence from wildlife,
import and trade authorities inIndiaare supposed to be carried before a pet is allowed
carriage on an aircraft. Some Airways
also specifies that a pet can be flown only in the cargo hold. Live pet in the cabin is not allowed unless it
is a service animal accompanying a disabled person.

Understand that in US, airlines that allow pets on planes
have to follow strict federal guidelines. The Federal Aviation Administration
(FAA) follows standards set by the Animal Welfare Act. Some of the rules for
travelling pets are :

Here is something interesting on Mexican Airline
Interjet, launching a campaign dubbed #BuscandoMika. MailOnline reports that Mexican airline
Interjet has launched a campaign dubbed #BuscandoMika (FindMika) after an
eight-year-old mixed-breed female dog apparently escaped her cage and got lost
at Mexico City's airport. The airline posted photos of the search effort and
flyers with a picture of Mika with a pink neckerchief around her neck. The
flyer offerd a 5,000-peso ($250) reward.

Traveler Pamela Alvarez,
who lives in Houston, put appeals on social media sites saying the airline
didn't inform her until she got to Houston that the dog escaped when the cage
fell. She said on a Facebook post: 'They told me that the dog didn't make it.
That they dropped the crate and it ran away.' She and her husband returned to
Mexico City to hunt for the dog.

Interjet said in a
statement that it understands pets are important to their owners. It is the primary responsibility of the Carrier
to deliver the goods in good condition and failure would attract monetary compensation,
However, Airlines limit their liability for loss, delay, or damage to baggage
to the minimum required by the Air Carriage Act / convention to which they are
part of. There is provision in Air
carriage to declare the value, pay higher freight and get compensated for the
declared value, in case of loss or damage.
Perhaps a dog carried in cabin, could be a hand cargo (baggage), while
one entrusted to Airlines could be treated as shipped cargo. The liability
limits could differ accordingly.

To conclude, under section 77-A of the Indian Railway
Act, the liability of Railways as carriers of animals is limited as provided
for in the schedule, unless the sender elects to pay the percentage charge on
value as shown in the Rule 1301: Per Head: Elephants Rs.1500/- Horses Rs.750/- Mules,
Camels or Horned Cattle Rs.200/- Donkeys, sheep, goats, dogs and other animals
or birds Rs.30/-